Saturday night, I had a live seat to Virginia Tech and Clemson. The programs couldn’t be moving in more opposite directions. The final score was Virginia Tech 20, Clemson 16, but the attitude of the teams is what struck me the most.
Virginia Tech improved to 6-2 (3-2) while Clemson fell to 4-3 (2-2).
The Hokies went for 4th down plays I didn’t care for. They called a fake punt inside their 35-yard line. It failed, but Clemson did nothing with it. In the final minute, Virginia Tech had a 4th and 1, and went for it to win the game when a FG would have tied the game. It worked and won the game.
I’m not a go-for-it every 4th down; in fact, I think points are getting left on the field all over college football, but what is better is consistency.
If you go – go; if you don’t then don’t.
Franklin trusts his team and QB Ethan Grunkemeyer a sophomore, to make plays even when things don’t always work out. Clemson, on the other hand, treats freshman QB Tait Reynolds with kid gloves. Halfway through the season, Clemson OC Chad Morris can’t or won’t trust Reynolds to take command of the offence. The offensive playcalling is safe and predictable, and it’s resulting in an offense ranked 115th in the country. Virginia Tech’s pass defense was suspect at best, but Clemson wouldn’t challenge it.
Virginia Tech is going to lose more games this year, but you have to love the direction of what we’ve seen so far.
The Hokies play hard, aggressively, and with an edge that I’ve said before we haven’t really seen since the Frank Beamer era.
The season is not even over, and I can’t wait to see what Virginia Tech looks like over the next 2 or 3 years under Franklin. While programs like Clemson and Florida State flounder in mediocrity, Virginia Tech could be ready to join the top 3 or 4 programs in the ACC sooner rather than later.
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